WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi argues President Barack Obama has ample authority to take executive actions as many presidents before him have done, including President Abraham Lincoln. “Does the public know the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order?” Pelosi asked reporters Thursday. “People have to understand how presidents have made change in our country, Congress catching up, and in the case of Ronald Reagan, improving what Congress has done.” Obama is poised to announce his long-anticipated executive actions on immigration Thursday night. Reports indicate he will move to grant legal status to about five million illegal immigrants.

Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 92: When President Abraham Lincoln met with free black leaders in 1862, what did he propose? Today marks the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s “shot heard ’round the world.” I’m referring, of course, to the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation he fired off from the White House on...

The Administration is predicting that the federal government will take in over $3 trillion in taxes in 2014. This works out to nearly $30,000 per full-time worker. Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney touted this “unprecedented achievement as yet another historic moment for President Obama. When we consider the number of persons who have left the workforce and the number who have been shifted to part-time work during his term the accomplishment is even more amazing. The portion of the population tasked with funding the government is shrinking at the same time that more are gaining access to its benefits. In...

In what the Obama Administration is characterizing as a “great surge in human freedom,” it was reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that there are 8.5 million fewer people in the labor force than when Obama took office in January of 2009. “The Great Emancipator himself only freed 4 million slaves,” said Press Secretary Jay Carney. “Without the bloodshed of a civil war, President Obama has enabled more than twice as many to escape from the drudgery of having to work for a living.” Carney boasted that “those in the GOP who try to cast this achievement as a...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. President Abraham Lincoln had been warned by Gen. George B. McClellan not to interfere with the institution of slavery. McClellan was a “War Democrat,” willing to fight to preserve the Union, but unwilling to do anything about the root cause of the rebellion that threatened the life of the nation. Ironically, it was McClellan’s victory at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, that had given Lincoln the opportunity he needed to issue his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. In that document, the President warned rebellious states in the South that they...

"...An “emancipation proclamation” is how he will have his servants such as Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory spin this recent declaration. They are working tirelessly at NBC; just last week they had another of their weekend anchor/propagandists actually comparing Jeremiah Wright to FREDERICK DOUGLASS! So what is his "end game"? Why does he continue to methodically manufacture these specious Lincoln "equivalencies"? When observed within the context of his agenda, this could reasonably be interpreted as ANOTHER part of the equation to eventually force secession and foment civil war..."

In recent weeks, there have been many metaphors and analogies from President Obama in describing the negotiations on the debt and the deficit. He's used terms like "shared sacrifice," "eat our peas," and putting aside "our sacred cows" in the name coming to an agreement. Speaking at the University of Maryland, Mr. Obama said Lincoln had his convictions, but he was constantly making concessions and compromises. "[T]he great emancipator was making a compromise in the Emancipation Proclamation because he thought it was necessary in terms of advancing the goals of preserving the Union and winning the war," Obama said. The...

The Great Emancipator was almost the Great Colonizer: Newly released documents show that to a greater degree than historians had previously known, President Lincoln laid the groundwork to ship freed slaves overseas to help prevent racial strife in the U.S. Just after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Lincoln authorized plans to pursue a freedmen’s settlement in present-day Belize and another in Guyana, both colonial possessions of Great Britain at the time, said Phillip W. Magness, one of the researchers who uncovered the new documents. Historians have debated how seriously Lincoln took colonization efforts, but Mr. Magness said the...

I was recently emailed an article by Frank Ross called 15 questions for Democrats. It demonstrates some of the lies being told that republicans are racist. Reality check. Its the opposite. Liberals are racistWhich is the Real 'Racist' Party: Fifteen Questions for Democrats Big Journalism Posted by Frank Ross Feb 8th 2010 Once upon a time former Governor, Presidential candidate, and Chairman of the Democrat National Committee called the GOP the "White Party." CNN commentator Lou Dobbs took Dean to task for his language. So was Dr. Dean, and those among the Left who share his understanding of history, accurate?...

On this day in 1862, the Democratic Party nominated Horatio Seymour for Governor of New York. Seymour denounced the Emancipation Proclamation as "a proposal for the butchery of women and children, for scenes of lust and rapine, for arson and murder unparalleled in the history of the world." At the onset of the Civil War, Seymour had called for the federal government to allow the rebel states to secede if they insisted on preserving slavery.

On this day in 1863, Frederick Douglass (R-MD) met with President Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) for the first time. Senator Samuel Pomeroy (R-KS) escorted Douglass to the War Department building. On arrival, Douglass urged Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to allow equal pay for African-American soldiers in the U.S. Army. Though sympathetic, Stanton said that would require congressional approval, which he supported. Next, Douglass was introduced to the president at the White House. Lincoln stood and shook his hand "just as you have seen one gentleman receive another," Douglass later recounted. "I at once felt myself in the present of an...

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Here is video of actor Sam Waterston reading President Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" which was signed on January 1, 1863, officially freeing the slaves, though the Civil War would rage on for over two more years. Waterston's reading is part of the celebration of Lincoln's birthday today, which is also the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth in Kentucky on February 12, 1809. . . . . . (Watch Video)

“Preaching Is God’s Great Emancipation Proclamation” (Mark 1:29-39; 1 Corinthians 9:16-27)In the Holy Gospel for today, Jesus says, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.” And then it says, “And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues.” Likewise, in today’s Epistle, St. Paul says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” Both of these readings emphasize the importance of preaching. It was a top priority for Jesus. It was a top priority for Paul. Why was it so important for them?...

Senator Obama is one of key leaders in a campaign to make Juneteeth Day a National Holiday in the United States. Juneteeth Day occurs on every June 19th, the anniversary of General Granger announcing the emancipation of slaves in the South West. The Holiday would be celebrated on the third Friday in June. Here's what the NYT wrote about it on 2004: "Most gatherings are decidedly upbeat, but the sobering reason for the holiday has also been part of Juneteenth's growth. Dr. Ronald Myers, the leader of a movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday, says June 19 should...

Our nation’s top historians reveal that the Democratic Party gave us the Ku Klux Klan, Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws and other repressive legislation which resulted in the multitude of murders, lynchings, mutilations, and intimidations (of thousands of black and white Republicans). On the issue of slavery: historians say the Democrats gave their lives to expand it, the Republicans gave their lives to ban it.

Today, the nation's capital celebrates “Emancipation Day” –- commemorating the Republican Party's abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, on April 16, 1862. That’s right, the Republican Party freed the slaves in DC, despite fierce opposition from the Democrats. Of course, none of the Democrats running the DC Government dares mention that fact. During the Civil War, one of the nation’s leading abolitionists was U.S. Senator Henry Wilson (R-MA), who would later serve as Vice President during President Grant’s second term. In December 1861, Senator Wilson introduced a bill to abolish slavery in the District. The measure met with...

Letters Suggest Lincoln Wanted to Buy Slaves for $400 Apiece in 'Gradual Emancipation' Wednesday, March 05, 2008 AP ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Barely a year into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suggested buying slaves for $400 apiece under a "gradual emancipation" plan that would bring peace at less cost than several months of hostilities. The proposal was outlined in one of 72 letters penned by Lincoln that ended up in the University of Rochester's archives. The correspondence was digitally scanned and posted online along with easier-to-read transcriptions. Accompanying them are 215 letters sent to Lincoln by dozens of fellow political...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A museum on Thursday unveiled a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, a document signed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln declaring the end of slavery in the United States. The document is one of about 24 known copies to survive out of 48 that were originally printed. It was acquired on behalf of The National Constitution Center museum from an unnamed private collector. "This is one of the rarest, most valuable, most significant documents in history," president of the non-profit museum Joseph Torsella told a news conference. "With the possible exception of the Declaration of Independence,...

Throw this article at your democrat/liberal/pacifist friends and left-wing history revisionists in their efforts to blame the GOP for Democrat's catastrophes. I base my own Libertarian social mindsets and fiscal Conservative ones on track record and reality not "spin" and not on political party affiliations. Nor on specific religious or ethnic dogma and culture. As a multilingual, multicultural, widely traveled (over a million international air miles) - definitely not a "herd animal" human - I have developed a perceptive eye for reality on a global, big picture scale. And a pretty accurate view of the components that create the big...

Emancipation Proclamation, in U.S. history, the executive order abolishing slavery in the Confederate States of America. Desire for Such a Proclamation In the early part of the Civil War, President Lincoln refrained from issuing an edict freeing the slaves despite the insistent urgings of abolitionists. Believing that the war was being fought solely to preserve the Union, he sought to avoid alienating the slaveholding border states that had remained in the Union. “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do...

Anyone else see this auction? The Emancipation Proclamation SIGNED by Abraham Lincoln apparently there were about 100 of these made, is this real? going for 1.5 million right now (of course i cant afford it!)

When Brandon Balch's 13-year-old daughter got married in Georgia, he wasn't there to give her away. The Boynton Beach man didn't even know about his daughter's union to a 14-year-old boy until after they got married, a license from a Georgia judge in hand. Georgia law allows minors to marry without parental consent if the bride-to-be is pregnant. A similar statue in Florida gives a judge discretion to issue a marriage license to minors without parental consent if the couple is expecting a child. ''I was never informed of the marriage. I didn't consent, much less know about it,'' said...

During a discussion with minority leaders and journalists on Monday, Howard Dean declared that Republicans are “a pretty monolithic party. They all believe the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party.” He further stated that “the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people” and Democrats are “more welcoming to different folks, because that’s the type of people we are.” Dean continued to defend his remarks as recently as Thursday. Dean’s comments clearly suggest that the GOP is, if not hostile to a demographic broader than white Christians, at least cool toward...

For the most part, I agree with Peter Lawler’s critique of the recent New York Times column by David Brooks on Lincoln and the evangelical abolitionists. But Lawler says one thing that is dead wrong and needs to be corrected. Lawler writes that “Lincoln opposed abolitionism before the Civil War because he believed it was unconstitutional; the Constitution only opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories. Abolitionism was a revolutionary principle, and it could finally only be justified by Lincoln after civil war had begun.” While Lawler is correct in observing that Lincoln was no abolitionist, his argument plays...

Emancipation Proclamation Goes on View New York Lawyer February 18, 2005 By Carl Hartman The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declaring the end to slavery goes on public view Friday as part of Black History Month celebrations. The document will be on display at the National Archives, where visitors regularly see the original Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The poor quality of the paper and ink on the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation make it vulnerable to light, so it has been only occasionally brought out of storage. It was last seen on Jan. 19,...

Q: After having read many accounts of the Civil War, I still don’t understand why South Carolina fired on Ft. Sumter, galvanizing the North into war. What do you think might have happened had the South continued to let these coastal forts be manned by the Union for a longer time? Hanson: I think conflict was inevitable, because the South had little appreciation of Northern industrial power nor of the competence of a number of formerly nondescript Union officers. The best officers of the Mexican War had joined the Confederacy and there was an erroneous general impression that all superior...

Just finished watching a replay of Sam Waterston reading Abraham Lincoln's speech at the Cooper Union. The link is to the BookTV page about this event and includes a Real Audio link to watch the presentation. What causes me to post this is just how timely this speech still is. There are many times in this speech where I wanted to stand up and shout YES! What President Lincoln said is still relevant and the arguments he puts forward about our political opponents and their tactics ring so true that it is stunning. Here is the text of the speech:

One Last Card to Play A review of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, by Allen C. Guelzo. Since 1865, the new york state library has been the proud owner of the original Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This is the document (you can read it in Lincoln's hand at their website) in which Abraham Lincoln, as "President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof," proclaimed on September 22, 1862, "That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held...

Dear Ted Turner, At this advanced stage of your long and complicated career you have finally crossed the line – making a contribution to your country and its culture so unequivocally positive and powerful that every American, regardless of political perspective, owes you a debt of gratitude. No matter how one feels about your creation of CNN, your donation of a billion dollars to the UN, your marriage to Jane Fonda, your operation of the Atlanta Braves, your divorce from Jane Fonda, your dismissal of Christianity as "a religion for losers," your bison ranching, or your yachting, or your fanatical...

There is a common misconception today, abetted by Democrat-leaning historians who wish to distance Abraham Lincoln from our Republican Party heritage, that with the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln just waved a presidential wand and freed the slaves. In fact, he was acting on authority granted to him by the Republican Congress in the second Confiscation Act, a copy of which Lincoln appended to the proclamation, stating that slaves held by rebels were to be "forever free". While the Radical Republicans (those radically opposed to slavery) were more eager than he to seize the moment and uproot the entire slave system, there...